A look at HEC...

So, here are some of the pictures I have taken of HEC:

Home sweet Building H.

My room is the one to the left of the yellow towel.

My room + balcony! Yes, my desk is a little bit messy...

Shared shower between 2 people, with bathroom down the hall.

The architecture at HEC is awful. Half of the buildings all look the exact same. Luckily for you, from now on I only have pictures of the one interesting building (also the only classroom building I'm in).

The big blue archway in front of the Bat'zet (Main classroom building).

In one of the hallways.

The great hall

This is one of the more unusual aspects about HEC: your classroom changes every time you have class. 20 minutes before class starts, the room you're supposed to go to is posted online and on these screens around the Bat'zet. You get to know the building layout quickly, that's for sure!

In front is the great hall from the outside, and at the back is where professors' offices are.

The Bat'zet from another direction.

Using the shortcut to get to Jouy-en-Josas, the town HEC is in.

Looking out over the hills by HEC.

Ok, these signs just confuse me. It says "Meeting Point" but they have these signs all over the place (there's another one a couple hundred feet away) and no one ever uses them anyway?? Do the French have trouble understanding 'meet at the front of the Bat'zet' so much that they need a sign to help them?

HEC

So, I bet some of you are wondering, "what is life like at HEC?" Well, I hope I can at least try to answer that question...

To begin, it would be helpful to know the background of the students who actually choose HEC for their full degree. The French students in the program I am in, the Masters of Science in Management degree, are essentially the smartest business students in France, if not all of Europe.

No joke - after high school they spend two years intensively (and I mean INTENSIVELY) studying mathematics and economics. After the two years of doing more or less nothing but preparing themselves for the one final test are up, they are ranked in order of performance.

Numbers 1-350 come to HEC. Each year, there are maybe 4-5 that choose to go to the number two business school in France, but most clearly chose HEC. The class size is then supplemented by about 200 or so international students.

Once here, they take one year of preparatory classes, then two years of business courses to receive their Masters of Science in Management. Not surprisingly, after working so hard for two years, the students more or less take it easy here. This isn't a problem however, as by graduating from HEC you are more or less guaranteed a job. HEC has been ranked the number one business school in Europe by the Financial Times for four years in a row. The average salary of a graduate in France is 46,951 Euros (about $70,000) and outside of France 58,729 Euros (about $87,500). Obviously, this school has quite a bit of a reputation for success. Compare this to the Carlson School, which has an average starting salary of $49,169, and you can see the difference.

In any case, they seem to have done an excellent job of recruiting teachers, as all of mine are very good. Speaking of teachers, here is a list of the classes I have, or will have (all classes are two hours long once per week, except French class, Financial Markets, and Accounting which are twice a week):

1. Financial Accounting - I have essentially already taken this class at Carlson, but here they use the International Financial Reporting Standards instead of the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Thus there are a number of differences in how inventory is accounted for, etc. My teacher, ironically enough, is from America. Still trying to figure that one out.

2. French (in French, obviously) - This being a business school, we are learning quite a bit of related vocab. The teacher (along with other French teachers, evidently) doesn't speak English well. Thus, the class is conducted entirely in French but people still speak to each other in English during class.

3. Doing Business in Europe Today - Interesting, in that I don't know much about the European business environment and this course has been a good introduction so far. The professor is a very opinionated British man, and he has no qualms about sharing what he thinks of your country. He has also pointed out many of the issues with the EU, most of which I didn't really even realize existed.

4. Export and Project Finance - The professor worked for many different European banks over the course of his career in this subject. He is obviously French, so it is sometimes difficult to understand what he is saying. What's interesting is that neither export finance or project finance exist in the US at the level they do in the rest of the world for various reasons. So, I never would have had a chance to take a class like this back at Carlson. (By the way, export finance is when the government provides insurance or financing for goods being exported. Project finance consists of private companies providing funding for public projects like a bridge or dam. This is more popular in countries that don't have much public money for such projects, like Greece.)

5. Oral Expression - Techniques of Presentation (in French) - Well, you would think this class would be a breeze for me. And it would be if it was in English. But when you have to get up in front of the class and speak French instead, things like paying attention to posture, breathing, voice, etc. kind of get lost in the middle of conjugating verbs. Also, speaking English in class (even to another student) is a definitely not acceptable. Thus I would consider this my most difficult class so far. However, the professor is very good, and I also have her for...

6. French Grammar (in French) - An excellent review course of all the grammar I have learned so far. Undoubtedly we will move into things I haven't learned, but it has been useful as it has been far too long since I took my last intensive grammar course at the U. French professors at HEC also speak far faster than those in the US. Not surprisingly, this takes some getting used to.

7. Financial Markets - I don't know yet, as the class doesn't start until the first week in November. Supposed to be difficult, but we'll see.

8. Negotiation - A course that is three hours on Friday and eight hours on Saturday for two weekends in November. A friend who has the class now says that it's her favorite so far.

I have eight hours of class on Thursdays from 10:10am-7:50pm (with only a one hour break for lunch, and ten mins between classes) so they kind of stink. Not to mention all six straight hours after lunch are in French. I don't have class on Fridays (woot!) and Tuesdays not until 5:50pm, so that's good.

I took some pictures of HEC, so watch for those in the next couple of days!

More pictures

Here are some of the pictures I took while touring with Mom in France. They're on a different platform, and so should be easier to view.

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023664&id=1607100321&l=80c17034fa

Pictures

Here is a link to some of the pictures I took in Paris and in Norway (with more to come of France, Morocco, and Belgium).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikbrecheisen/

In order to view the photos, click on the link above, and then choose a set to view on the right hand side. For example, click on the set "Various times in Paris (before HEC)."

One way to view the photos is to now click "Detail" (between "Thumbnails" and "Comments") which is located under the title of the set (which in this case is "Various times in Paris (before HEC)").

Or, you can look at them like I prefer, which means that after you choose a set to view on the right, click on the first photo (it's a fountain). From here, click on the icon that looks like a pull down screen (it's also on the right, and it says "22 items" above it) and to look through them that way. Make sure you click "Show Info" on the top right so that you can see what comments I've made about the photo if you can't already see them.

Happy viewing!

Marrakech!

In order to get to Marrakech, I had decided to use the bus. My Frommers travel guide listed the bus companies that it trusted, one of which was Supratours, and also mentioned that the buses were relatively new and safer than some other companies. This was all correct. The bus even left on schedule. What I hadn't anticipated, however, was the difference between the way Moroccans and Americans drive.

To say the least, Moroccans are aggressive drivers.

I'm fairly certain that the bus driver thought he was driving an Aston Martin, as he passed over 25 vehicles (mostly trucks) in the first half hour on roads with one lane on each side. I lost count after that. Usually, there wasn't anyone coming from the other side, however. There were a few notable exceptions to this when we missed sideswiping other buses or cars by literally inches (I was sitting near the front at a window seat on the left). The driver also seemed to think that the lines marking the different lanes were more of suggestions rather than requirements, as he frequently traveled down the center of the road rather than in just one lane. In fact, the bus spent more time in multiple lanes than it ever did in just one. This practice was not quite as accepted by other Moroccans as we did get honked at a couple of times (most cars and trucks just scooted farther over in their lane though).

One good thing was that the roads the bus was on were in excellent condition, clearly having been paved fairly recently. But when there was any construction, instead of having just one lane open and a worker letting traffic go though on that side like in the US, there would be a gravel road hastily built on the side of the real road for everyone to travel on. Inevitably, we would be smoothly coasting along and I would be just about to fall asleep when there would be a big bump and the bus would suddenly transform into an all terrain vehicle. Sigh.

Thankfully, I made it to Marrakech Supratours station alive, and was met by a taxi driver arranged through where I stayed, the Raid dar Maia. The Riad was very nice, and the owner met me with hot mint tea (a Moroccan tradition) and a map so that I wouldn't get too lost. It was located very close to the main square called Jemaa el Fna.

Jemaa el Fna is basically a large open space surrounded by cafes and vendors. Inside the space during the day, there are mostly just fresh orange juice stands (3 dirahms or $.40 per glass). However, it really transforms at night with all sorts of food stalls grilling meat, fish, vegetables, etc. along with snake charmers, and more vendors selling all sorts of merchandise.

Although I spent a good amount of time at the square, I also really enjoyed wandering around (and of course getting lost in) the souks. The souks are one of the main attractions for many visitors to Marrakech, including myself, as you can see not only an incredibly vast array of hand made pottery, leather goods, products made out of thuya wood (a local tree), but also see the people dyeing the wool, or carving the wood boxes. Parts of the souks were also filled with locals (who usually bought food and clothing there) so you could get an even better feel for what life is like for someone who lives in Morocco.

Marrakech, like in Essaouira, was an excellent place to just try to take in as much as you can by walking around. Although it is nearly impossible to keep track of where you are in the souks after a while, most roads lead back to Jemaa el Fna (and you always know you're close when the people you pass are more tourists than locals) so getting lost wasn't such a bad thing.

One other thing to note was that if you are the type of person who is easily intimidated, Morocoo is probably best explored in a group as opposed to alone or even with two people. The shopkeepers are incredibly insistent salesmen, and once you walk in a store, walking out without purchasing anything is a difficult task. I found it was easiest just to ignore the shopkeepers as they don't bother you once you've moved on from their shop. There are also many illegal guides who will try to convince you they should guide you around the souks, and who are more persistent about attempting to earn your business. After following me around for a couple of minutes and realizing that I had no intention of paying for their services however, they left me alone. Essaouira was the complete opposite, and was much more similar to the US in that assistance was offered only if you requested it, so I was definitely glad I went there first!

Unfortunately, it always seemed incredibly inconspicuous to take photos, so I don't have too many from Morocco. What I do have, should be available shortly however.

And speaking of photos, I am in the process of uploading them as I write this. As soon as I have put some comments on so that you have an idea of what you're looking at, I will post a link here to access them via Flickr. I also plan on posting the pictures to Facebook, so you can look at them there as well.

Essaouira

Sorry again for the delays in posting - the first couple of days have been pretty busy at HEC. In any case, here's what I wrote about Essaouira:

Luckily, I was able to find a direct flight from Paris to Essaouira, Morocco on Royal Air Maroc. The flight went very well, although it wasn't very full and no one was sitting in first class. Being an American, the Moroccans said I had to see the doctor before I would be allowed to leave the Essaouira airport. However, this turned out to be a simple yes or no questionnaire about whether or not I had H1N1 flu or if I had been in contact with someone who had. Certainly nothing like China!

Essaouria is a smaller town on the western coast of Morocco. I chose it since I knew that I wanted to visit Marrakech (the second city I visited), and Essaouira isn't too far from there. I arrived at the place where I was staying, called the Riad de la Mer (Riad, which is used I think to describe a converted house into a place for people to stay, and de la Mer, which means of the ocean). It was very conveniently located, as there was a square nearby with a number of cafes.

As a town, Essaouira was pretty laid back, as no one really hassled you to buy anything. Other than to walk around the city area and see the ocean, there really weren't any 'sights' to see in the normal sense, which was ok with me as I have certainly seen many in the past 3 weeks. Rather, Morocco has some of the best people watching you can imagine.

Moroccans don't usually eat at restaurants much, so those are more or less just for tourists. There are two Moroccan specialties that you can find at almost any restaurant serving traditional food - tajine and couscous. Tajine is sort of like Moroccan pot roast, only it's served with different types of cooked fruit/vegetables and meat like beef, chicken, fish, etc. Couscous, I assume you know about, and the time I had it there were also some cooked onions and chicken on top of the couscous. These two entrees made up the bulk of the menus, so if you were looking for something different you more or less had to go to an Italian restaurant, for example.

Next up will be Marrakech and my exciting/terrifying trip to get there!

More Posts are Coming!

Now that I finally have internet at HEC (the school where I am studying this semester, for those of you who don't know) I will be able to post the entries I have written...sort of.

I wrote them on my iPod touch but I don't know how the wireless internet works here yet, so I may have to retype them onto my computer, along with uploading photos.

So stay tuned!

Provence, Parts 2 and 3

We got a bit of a late start on Thursday, so instead of going to the market in Nyons as originally planned, we headed for Avignon for a day of sightseeing.

After arriving, we went to see the Palais des Papes, or in English, the Palace of the Popes. For a number of reasons, mostly concerning safety, the Pope temporarily moved to Avignon, France from Italy. They of course built a grand palace for the Pope in Avignon, which is still standing. Though the tour was informative, the building itself wasn't all that impressive. However, its importance in history is certainly hard to ignore.

We then went to see the Pont Saint Bénezet, a bridge from the 12th century that spanned over the Rhône river. Although most of its original 22 arches across the river have been destroyed (there are now 4), it is a popular tourist site since there was a song written about it.

The following day, we headed out right away in the morning for a market in Carpentras. This was an excellent decision, as there were so many stalls that I'm sure we didn't see all of them. The vendors were selling all sorts of things from locally grown produce, to rotisserie chicken, linens and tableclothes, and of course herbs and soap. Mom went on quite the shopping trip, that's for sure.

While at the market, we bought food for a picnic lunch, since we went from there to a driving tour in the Côte du Rhône region. We took a bit of a detour off from the original route, which put us on some very narrow roads back towards Avignon! We did find some scenically located picnic tables along the route where we stopped to have our lunch.

From there, we made a quick stop in the city of Orange, where it turns out there wasn't much to see. We continuted on to Avignon which is where we dropped off the car and took the TGV, which travels at 200mph, back to Paris for the night.

Our hotel room at the Mariott was definitely a huge change from the incredibly tiny ones we had been in! Unfortunately, we didn't arrive at the hotel until just before midnight, and we had to wake up at 6am the next morning to make sure that Mom had enough time to get to the airport for her flight out.

I certainly had an excellent time travelling all over France, and I know Mom did as well. After her flight took off, I had one day to rest in Paris before my last big trip before school starts - to Morocco!

Provence, Part 1

After driving about 4 hours from Vichy, we arrived at our first stop, Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard is a bridge that was built by the Romans as a part of their system to transport water to different cities. It has the largest arch ever built by the Romans that spans over the river below.

Continuing with the Roman theme, we then drove to Nîmes, where we saw one of the still standing Roman coliseums. This is the most well preserved of the coliseums standing today, so it certainly provided a good idea what they would have looked like when the Romans used them. The tour came with an excellent audioguide that explained some of the history behind the gladiator to gladiator fights but it mostly talked about when specially trained gladiators would fight bears, lions, etc.

We then decided to head for the hotel. We located it fairly easily with the help of the GPS, but after I got out to get the key Mom drove away since there was one lane and someone was behind her waiting to get by. 20 minutes later, she resurfaced. Apparently, going around in a circle to reach the hotel again wasn't as easy as one would assume.

After that ordeal, we headed out to a nearby restaurant and had an excellent dinner and the best dessert so far - frozen nougat with red berry sauce.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't hard to get to sleep that night!

Bayeux/Mont Saint Michel

So, after the Normandy tour, there was still one thing left to do in Bayeux: the Bayeux tapestry. It was created in the middle of the 11th century and is 210 feet long (only about 2 feet wide though). It was made since most of the population was illiterate, so a tapestry was used to tell the story of how William the Conqueror (who was the duke of Normandy) became the King of England. I didn't get any pictures of it, but if you google 'Bayeux tapestry' you'll see it. The colors were surprisingly still pretty vibrant, especially considering its age. I thought it was interesting to note that Britain's WWII memorial said something along the lines of 'we have now helped to save the country that once conquered ours.'

From there, we drove to Mont Saint Michel, which is an abbey that was built on a rock that practically makes it on an island. There's a causeway that drivers use to get to it, but parking could be an issue at high tide since, well, there isn't any more parking. Luckily, the lot wasn't supposed to flood until later that night. The walk up to the abbey was touristy, with all sorts of souvenir places, but the abbey itself wasn't. The best part was actually the first time that I saw Mont Saint Michel from the car. It's neat because all of a sudden you see this almost castle like building high on a rock and it one of those times where you can't help but go 'wow'.

From there, we drove to the Loire valley to a city called Amboise. The Loire valley is famous for its châteaux (castles). We are on our way to Provence, which is in the south of France, but we won't actually arrive there until Wednesday.

Chenonceau and Villandry

(FYI: there are two new posts, this one and the previous about Bayeux)

Tuesday began with a visit to Chenonceau, one of the many castles of the Loire valley which is southwest of Paris. This castle had a bit of a unique history. It was one of the first castles that was bulit just for pleasure instead of fortification.

Much of what we saw reminded me of the song "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." It was originally inhabited by Diane de Poitiers, who had one of the castle's most distinctive features built: its arched bridge over the river. However, once her husband died, Catherine de Medici waltzed in and unceremoniously kicked Diane out.

Catherine subsequently built her own garden opposite Diane's, put a ballroom on top of Diane's bridge with excellent river views, and put her office on the floor above Diane's and used the same layout, but added a ceiling painting that rivaled those of Versailles and the Louvre.

Mom liked Chenonceau better than Versialles, an observation that I also agree with. Although Versailles was grand, it seemed a little bit too over the top and cold at times. Chenonceau, on the other hand, felt much more liveable and had a better setting on the river.

After driving around in a circle for a while (or so it seemed) we found Villandry, another château. However, it is known more for its gardens than castle, so that's all we saw. They had a number of different gardens including a very impressive vegetable garden that had all the vegetables arrainged geometrically. There were also over 1200 lime trees, but I didn't see any limes.

After meandering through the gardens, we headed to Vichy to stay the night since tomorrow would have a good amount of driving to reach our final destination (Provence), about half a day.

Normandy

Our day (Sunday) got off to a bit of a rough start. Our Battelbus tour of the D-Day beaches (along with some other stops) was to begin at 8:30. We left with enough time to arrive as per the person at where we were staying. Evidently, someone before us had set the GPS in the car to 'Avoid Highways.' Not surprisingly, it took us longer than expected to arrive. I ran up to the van just as they were about to leave, and we made it on the tour.

The rest of the day was undoubtedly amazing and very moving. We stopped at a number of places including Sainte-Mère Eglise (one of the cities where fighting occured), three entry points for US troops (Pointe du Hoc, Utah and Omaha beaches), a church that was a medic station in a small town (the guide knew the two medics that had been stationed there), and of course the American cemetary.

My favorite part was learning about the medics, and Mom liked learning about the paratroopers and hedgerows. Hedgerows are more or less what they sound like - rows of extremely dense hedges (up to 10ft thick) that were actually built by the Vikings to divide up land. This made it very difficult for the Americans to get through to where they needed to be, as there was just one small exit in no standard place that would allow you out. Some remains of them are still around today and in our many scenic drives we got to see them.

Another one of the best parts of our tour was the guide. He was originally from England, but had moved to Normandy about 5 years ago. He definitely knew what he was talking about and had met many vets from the war (both American and German) and so was able to give their perspective on the invasion.

After the tour finished at 5pm, we went for dinner at La Rapière, which was recommended by one of Mom's friends at work. The food was excellent; I had poppy seed encrusted sea bass and Mom had a filet of beef with prune sauce, which she evidently liked.

Even though our day got off to a rough start, it was certainly a great one in the end!

Versailles

Sorry for the late postings- internet access isn't always readily available!

Our day began of course at the local bakery for breakfast. We then headed out on the RER train to Versailles. Before the main attraction, however, we had to rent a car. This was actually very easy, and we were upgraded to a car (a Citroen C5) with an automatic transmission (hard to come by and $$$ in Europe) and a GPS system for no extra charge. That should definitely help make things a little easier for the next week!

Since we were there on a weekend, Versailles had the fountains in the gardens on for an hour (for an extra charge, of course). The gardens were much larger than I thought they would be, and it was mostly comprised of a Harry Potter-esque hedge maze with fountains located in the center of each square. The gardens were much better with the fountains on; I don't think they would be nearly as impressive without them.

The castle itself was of course an incredible sight. The amount of money put into making everything as elaborate as possible was evident in the many carvings and ceiling paintings. We used the audio guides which definitely help in understanding how the different rooms were used.

After Versailles, it was time to drive to Bayeux, where we would be sleeping for the night. We stayed at the Château de Lignerolles, which was run by a couple from Holland who were excellent hosts. The rooms were in a house built in 1731, so there was a sink in the room but the bathroom was down the hall. We were definitely tired by the end of the day, so we went straight to sleep.

Paris, Part 2

The morning of the 4th, Mom and I were so tired, we slept in until 9AM. After getting ready, we went straight to Notre-Dame. The cathedral was busy with tourists to say the least. However, the general grandeur of the cathedral was still a sight to see.

I preferred the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral though because of the magnificent stained glass windows. They surrounded the entire church and each set of windows told a different story. Although it was kind of hard to figure out what the message of each scene was, it was still pretty incredible that they had so much intricately detailed stained glass.

We then headed across the street for some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) since it was a bit cool and drizzling. It was kind of unusual because they gave you a cup with the melted chocolate and a cup with the hot milk and you just got to make it how you liked. Nonetheless, it was exactly what we needed before moving on.

If that wasn't enough history in one day, we then walked over to the Louvre. We of course saw the Mona Lisa (not as underwhelming as people make it out to be, I thought) and Venus de Milo and many other famous pieces. We ended up getting quite lost in the Sully wing with the Egyptian artifacts. I actually didn't mind too much since ancient Egypt is one of my favorite time periods to learn about, but it was very warm in the museum so we headed out.

By that time, we were hungry for some dinner, so we assembled a true French picnic complete with baguette, French cheese and meat all bought from different stores. Later, we took off to see the Eiffel Tower at night when it is lit up and there was even a light show at the top of the hour.

Right next to the tower were the Seine River boat cruises. It was an hour long, and mostly pointed out things we had already seen. However, it was cool to see how more of Paris looked at night.

Our last day in Paris was certainly a good one, and we really felt like we had taken in the true 'atmosphere.'

Paris, Part 1

Sorry that it's been a little while since the last post, but a lot has happened!

Two days ago, I arrived on my SAS flight back from Oslo. I went to the hotel I was staying and and mostly rested up for the next day.

Yesterday, Mom arrived in the morning, so I went to go meet her at the airport. Her flight arrived early, so she actually had to wait a while before I got there. After getting situated at the hotel, we went to Rue Cler (Rick Steve's favorite street in Paris) and had a sandwich at a café and took in the local atmosphere. Even though Mom was a litlle jet-lagged, we knew the best cure was to stay active and not rest. So, we went to the Orsay Museum, which is famous for its collection of impressionist paintings. After wandering around for a while, and seeing many famous works of art, we decided it was time for some true Paris - the Eiffel Tower.

Although the line was kind of long, we went up to the second level where there was an excellent view over all of Paris. Even Mom, who prefers to stay on the ground, thought that the view was great. It was also interesting to note that many of the buildings had rooftop gardens and places to relax. Parisians also seem to enjoy putting a multitude of plants on their little tiny balconies.

After the tower, we had an excellent dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was definitely the type of place where you go 'now why can't we have food like this in the US?' We ended up returning to the hotel room after dinner and going to bed since it was an overall fun-filled, but tiring day.

Bergen

So, about Bergen. Well I guess one of the most important things to know is that it rains a ridiculous amount. Evidently, if they get 60 days of sunshine in a year, that would be considered good. I definitely wish I'd brought a better umbrella than a pocket size one.

Not surprisingly, it was raining on Monday morning. However, since it was the last day of August, that meant that the tourist season was essentially ending and that there were somethings that if I didn't do them today, I wouldn't be able to at all. So, the first thing I did was a tour that included entrance to the Bryggen museum, a building that replicated the German and Norwegian community "living rooms," and the Hanseatic Museum.

They were all very interesting, and I was surprised to learn about the influence the Germans had on Bergen. They brought grain to Norway since it wasn't growable here in exchange for fish. Bergen was part of the Hanseatic league, which was the name for the cities that all traded together via the Germans. That meant that while there were 7000 Norwegians living in Bergen (the largest city in Norway at the time) around the 1300s, there were also 2000 Germans who essentially ruled themselves.

The houses were all made out of wood and put right next to each other, so fires have always been, and continue to be, a major concern. The Germans had very strict rules about fires, namely that you couldn't have them in private homes. So, they all met at communal living room type places at the end of the block at night where there was fire and food each night. However, the Norwegians allowed fire in private homes, thus the reason for the 20 or so major fires that have leveled portions of Bergen since the 1100s.

The largest fire was in 1702 when 87% of the city burned to the ground. The most recent (though not nearly as large) fire was in 1955.

Today, I started out by going up the funicular to the top of one of the surrounding hills. The view over Bergen was quite the sight. I then walked around the forest area for a little while which was interesting because their forests have so much more plant life on the ground likely due to all the rain. I then walked around by the University of Bergen for a while and looked at some of the shops.

The Norwegian sweaters are of course far too expensive for me, usually around 1500 NOK, or about $250, for a good quality Dale of Norway sweater. I did, however, buy a winter hat that has Gore-Tex type fabric to stop the wind and is Teflon coated to repel water.

One last observation about Norway in general: the stoplights for walkers here are very unusual. In both Oslo and Bergen, once the green walk man starts flashing, you only have like 5 seconds to walk, or rather, run, across the crosswalk. In Oslo, before the green man flashes though, you get a beeping sound. The first time I heard it I knew I recognized the sound from somewhere, but I wasn't sure where. Then, once when I heard it, I thought to myself "Ok who is playing Catchphrase (a game) in the middle of the street??"

Turns out the joke was on me - I knew I recognized the sound from the stoplights from somewhere! I guess Oslo got the same sound as the Catchphrase beeper. Bergen has a different sound for their stoplights; to me it sounds like the beep a truck makes when it is backing up. It's a good thing I'm not blind otherwise I would have had some unusual impressions about Norway...

Tonight, I leave on a 22:58 train back to Oslo, arriving at about 6:30. I will then head to the Oslo airport to return to Paris in order to meet up with Mom before we travel around France for a week and a half! I definitely enjoyed my time in Norway, and like I mentioned before, I will have to return (maybe once I have a bit more money...)!

Norway in a Nutshell

Yesterday, I came to an important conclusion: this will not be my last visit to Norway. Although the nutshell tour was fantastic, I realized how little of the incredible wilderness I have seen.

But, to return to the beginning of the tour, which had 5 parts:

1. 8:11-12:53 Train from Oslo train station to Myrdal. As far as train rides go, this one was amazing, to say the least. Although the scenery at the beginning was fairly normal for Norway, as we got closer to Myrdal, it got much better. The best views (and most of my pictures) were of picturesqe valleys surrounded by tree-lined mountains. We also passed by a number of Norwegian towns, which was interesting mostly because all the houses were basically variations on a theme! In the larger cities this isn't true, but everywhere else they only need a couple colors of paint since everyone seems to choose the same few. Interestingly, for lunch I brought a barbeque chicken and coleslaw sandwich from the grocery store that was actually quite good. Now that's a combination I've yet to find in the US...

2. 13:27-14:25 Flåmsbana train from Myrdal to Flåm. This ride continued the excellent scenery from the last one, although we often went through tunnels. The best part was this great waterfall that they had built a deck by so they stopped the train so everyone could go out and take pictures. Before we got out though, the conductor mentioned something about a mythical lady that lived in the waterfall. Then, while everyone was out of the train they started playing some mysterious music. So at this point I thought "oh they're just trying to set the mood" and didn't think any more of it. Then a minute later, a woman came out of this little brick shack up high by the waterfall and started dancing around to the music. Clearly they were attempting to play up the mystical lady thing, but it ended up being pretty funny (and tacky at the same time, of course)!

3. 15:10-17:20 Flåm-Gudvangen Fjord Cruise. This was definitely my favorite part of the nutshell tour. Although it was raining and quite windy, the undescribable scenery made it definitely worth standing on the outside deck of the boat. I took many pictures, but they don't even really do the Nærøyfjord justice.
Oddly enough, at this point most of the people on the tour were now Japanese. I wouldn't have imagined Norway being that popular of a place form them to travel to, but I guess I was wrong. The majority of travelers to Norway are actually German (as according to a tour guide) and some museums actually translate descriptions into German along with English. But anyway, back to the tour...

4. 17:45-19:00 Gudvangen to Voss via bus. There was some good scenery on the bus, but it was fairly similar to that from the train trips. The bus did have to make a bunch of u-turns to get down the mountainside, which elicited a gasp from the entire bus as soon as we could see what we would be driving down. All I can say is that I was incredibly glad I wasn't driving.

5. 19:20-20:35 Voss to Bergen via train. The scenery here was also good but nothing compared to the earlier parts of the trip. I ended up taking a nap since I was tired even though I didn't technically do much of anything.

After arriving in Bergen, I found the place where I was staying with a little trouble since Google maps evidently hasn't quite put all of Bergen's streets into their database. But I found some free wireless and got a different map that led me to where I needed to go. Yet again, having an iPod touch was clearly the best investment I could have made to prepare for this trip.

Although the Norway in a Nutshell tour was an excellent way to taste what Norway has to offer, it doesn't offer any chance to get out and actually explore. If I were to do it again, I would probably stop at one of the many towns along the fjord where you could undoubtedly hike into the surrounding mountains. For people whom hiking wouldn't be a good option though, this is the right trip to take from Oslo to Bergen.

I'll detail all about my time in Bergen tomorrow since it's already midnight here...

Last Day in Oslo

In case you were wondering, the laundry worked out ok! I guess the settings I chose were just fine after all.

Anyways, after that was finished yesterday, I met my friend Casey, who is studying at BI (a business school) this semester. She showed me around her school, which was a very contemporary building that I was really impressed with. We then went to the Bogdoy part of Oslo to the Kon-Tiki museum which was about these two boats, the Kon-Tiki and Ra II. This Norwegian guy built both boats in order to prove that different ancient civilizations could have had contact with each other. He was convinced that they had contact because of the many similarities between cultures. Both of the boats were on display, which was neat to see.

We then went back to prepare apple crisp for a dinner with a bunch of the international students. Everyone brought a dish from their country and we all shared - it was very tasty. It was also fun learning about some of the differences between different cultures.


Today, I went back to the Bogdoy part of Oslo by ferry to see the Viking Ship Museum. They had two complete boats - one that was more of a luxury boat and one that would likely have been used to cross the seas. The luxury boat was a burial spot for a Queen, so there were a number of items like wagons and cookware on display as well (it is thought that the Vikings believed in the afterlife, thus the need for items with the burial boat).

I then took another boat to one of the islands near Oslo. This was a bit interesting, as I didn't really have any clue if I was getting on the right boat, how often it ran to the islands, or which island to get off at. Luckily, I chose a great island to explore since it was fairly good sized and there weren't many people living there. I have a bunch of pictures that I will upload as soon as I can.

While waiting for the boat to return, it of course started pouring rain. There wasn't any shelter nearby, so I definitely got wet. But as the saying goes, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just innapropriate clothing," which conveniently rhymes in Norwegian.

Tomorrow I'm going on the Norway in a Nutshell tour to Bergen, so hopefully I make all the connections between transportation methods!

Laundry

This morning I realized that I would need to do laundry. Luckily, the hostel I'm staying at has an agreement with a nearby hotel that we can use their facilities. It cost 60 kr for two loads, which is about $10.

The unfortunate part is that the machines are labelled in Norwegian. So, I put both loads in at 60 degrees Celsius and we'll see what happens.

There were instructions in English for the dryers, however. One of the settings is called 'mangle dry 25%.' I think I'll choose a different setting.

Oslo, part 1

Today, I started off with a typical Oslo activity - walking along Karl Johans gate, which is a main street in downtown Oslo. I was doing Rick Steve's walking tour, which also stopped at a couple of places along the way.

However, the tour didn't include anything too exciting, especially since the city hall was closed until September 21st to visitors. So, I decided that since it wasn't raining too bad (just kind of misting, which was most of today) I would go see Frogner Park. The statues by Vigeland were very cool to see and the park itself was nice too.

I then went to the Nobel Peace Center and museum, which was much more interesting than I expected. They had an exhibit with a bunch of pictures and stories about people who were seeking asylum in Norway or other counties and some of the difficulties they have to go through. There was also a large exhibit about the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Martti Ahtisaari, who was the president of Finland and is now an international peace mediator. One of the things he is well known for is for negotiating the independance of Kosovo.

I have also made some general observations about Norway:
- Everything is ridiculously expensive. I knew that it would be more than France, but I didn't realize by how much. What I can't figure out is why - I've heard it's since there are many very wealthy people in Oslo, but I also can't imagine that is why a 700 mL (about 24oz) bottle of water costs $4.50 (and water fountains, like in France, are nearly impossible to find).
-Convenience stores are very popular. Actually, this gets kind of out of hand. The chain Narvesen has stores all over the place, often in close proximity to one another. However, unlike Walgreens, they sell mostly food and that's about it. 7-eleven stores are also common, but they don't sell gas, just food as well.
-Theft must be quite a problem, since almost all stores have those alarm gates when you exit. Maybe if things didn't cost quite so much this wouldn't be a big issue?
-Everyone speaks English. I'm sure there are some Norwegians that don't, but I certainly haven't seen them. This does make things much easier travel-wise, that's for sure.

Off to Norway!

This morning I went to Les Halles (a park) until I had to go to the airport for my flight to Norway. The flight was out of terminal 1, which really wasn't a very nice part of the airport as they had many flights crammed into a very small space. When I was about to board my SAS flight to Oslo, they scanned the boarding pass I had and it didn't work. I was towards the head of the boarding line and there was only space for one person to board people to the flight and it took them like 10 minutes to figure out that I was supposed to be on the flight. And after I got on, of course there was someone already in my seat. In the end it was fine since economy was only about 2/3 full anyway.

I didn't have much of a lunch, so I bought a hot dog since it was the cheapest item I could choose. After calculating the exchange rate, it turns out that a single hot dog cost $6. Ouch. After that, I went straight for the Anker hostel, which hopefully will be fine for the time I am here. Tomorrow I will begin exploring Oslo, so I will write again once I have seen more of the city!

The First Couple of Days

Hello everyone! I have decided to write a blog about my experiences since that will be the easiest way for me to share them. However, I'm not sure how often I will be able to update the blog for the first month since I'm not sure when I will or will not have internet access. Also. if I continue to type these on french keyboards (where the a and q, w and z, ? and m, among other keys have switched places. Also, please forgive me for any spelling errors, as the spellcheck only seems to know french.

Anyways, the flight over here on Air France was very good. The airplane was moderately new, the crew spoke both french and english very fluently, and the pasta dinner was actually pretty good. My only complaint was that there weren't any air vents and the plane got kind of hot so that wasn't very comfortable. I did manage to sleep but I'm not exactly sure for how long. After the flight arrived, I had to wait about a half hour to get through immigration since there was a pretty long line. Luckily customs didn't pull me over to check my baggage so that made the process a bit quicker. I then took a taxi to the place where I stored my two large bags for the month before school starts on the 21st of September. I had a bit of trouble locating the baggage place since it was on a pedestrian only side street, but luckily I had downloaded a map of Paris to my iPod touch before I came so I used that to figure out where I needed to go.

I then checked in at the hotel FIAP Jean Monnet, which so far has been ok. It's in a very residental area, so there aren't many things nearby, but there is a Franprix (a Walgreens size grocery store) so I can purchase items for a quick meal if I want. After that I took a nap since I was quite tired, and pretty much didn't do much else the rest of the evening.


Today (8/25) I started off by going to the Pompidou center, which turned out to be closed. That ended up being ok since it wasn't too hard to get to my second choice - La Défense and the Grande Arche. La défense is the business area of Paris, and it is somewhat similar to downtown Minneapolis. La Grande Arche is a large white arch that is the main attraction in the area. I took the glass elevator to the top of the arch and there was a pretty good view of the Champs-Elysee since they are along the same line. I then went to the Tuileries gardens (right next to the Louvre) and did some people watching and rested for a little while. After that I went to the St. Eustache church which had some good stained glass windows and was fairly cool inside.

I do have pictures of most of this, however without my computer I can't upload them. I'm off to Norway tomorrow, so I'll write more after that!